Enhancing Windows 95 with Microsoft Plus! (Unboxing & Exploration)

Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video!

It's been almost 8 years since I last tried out Microsoft Plus! For Windows 95. I recently acquired a physical copy of it, so I figured now is a better time than ever to revisit this fascinating piece of '90s Microsoft software. Let's check it out!

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Background Music:
"Supreme" and "Rest" from the YouTube Audio Library

Outro Music: Silent Partner - Bet On It
Source: YouTube Audio Library

Some materials in this video are used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, and research.

#MichaelMJD #Windows95 #MicrosoftPlus

[NCommander]

The funny thing is the reason I did that entire investigation into Space Cadet Pinball was because you showed it on Windows XP x64, and well, the rabbit hole went deep. So I guess we've gone full circle here! Great content as always.

[DuranMedine]

Fun fact is that all the themes from Plus! for Windows 95 and the four desktop themes (Baseball, Jungle, Space, and Underwater) from Plus! for Kids were included in Windows 98 and Windows Me as the built-in desktop themes. All though, Plus! 98 had introduced some new themes to go along with the default built-in themes from Windows 98 and used a revised version of Desktop Themes that allows you to change the My Documents icon and allows you have themes that support changing the gradient title bars.

[Aranimda]

Windows 11 could use some Plus!
Aero Glass
Windows DreamScene
Dektop Theme packs, including a Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 theme.
Windows Movie Maker, 4K edition

[kkaysix]

6:10 BUSTED! Weird how they went to the effort of putting in a check on floppy disks presumably knowing they wouldn't be able to do the same on CD-ROM due to their read only nature...also I remember as a kid literally every store demo PC having Plus installed and being set to random themes then getting home to my computer and being sad I couldn't change my boring default theme until one day when I stumbled across a copy of Plus after which point I must have driven my parents who also used the computer at the time absolutely bonkers!

[BSzili]

I remember having tremendous fun with Microsoft Plus! 98 themes back in the day. I spent a lot of the time trying them in the Desktop Themes program. "Inside your Computer" was also my favorite as it looked very cool, but I think I stuck with "More Windows" for the longest, as it was similar to the default theme, just nicer. Mystery had a cool screensaver with the animated haunted house.

[xXBlueSheepXx]

I wish Windows themes still had *SOUL* like these Plus! themes. Nowadays you just get a dark mode and light mode.

[LordHorst]

9:00 "Inside your computer" is the theme I currently use on my Win98 machine. Yes, it's an awesome theme, and I am so glad there are more people out there who appreciate OS themes as much as I do. :)

[bigalexg]

Wow. The memories. I remember every one of those themes. Putting Plus on every new install was a highlight for me, silly as that may be. And Space Cadet, I put in the hours, had a high game of 40, 000, 000 or so. Lot of nostalgia for that era - mid nineties thru early 2000s. It was all so fresh and exciting, just getting online and playing so many PC games I just found some kind of version for Windows 10, LOL, looking at the Inside Your Computer wallpaper and the color theme at least. That was my fave too!

[steriftes]

chill saturday enjoying fried rice in the morning while listening to mjd's sound. couldn't be any better

[Divyanshu.Saraswat]

Bed time + MJD's 30 minutes video = the best sleep

[Spaceqowboy]

I just discovered your channel, and I’m literally devouring your videos on Windows and the history. But this one really hit it! Those themes were so cool. Dangerous creatures shutdown sound brings back so much memories! Great content, thank you very much!

[PhilipMurphyExtra]

Microsoft Plus was really fun for its time and a novelty, The themes were cool and the games were fun.

[ruairi_d]

I wish Microsoft would release some of these screensavers for Windows 10/11... They were soo cool. I remember having these when I was a kid! Kinda miss those days!

[sburton]

I remember when I bought Plus 98 when Windows 98 was released and I remember that I liked the themes like underwater, space, and others. Also organic art screensaver I liked.

[radicalraccoon]

Fun fact: The wallpaper of the Mystery theme is actually the interior of the creepy house in the Mystery screensaver. If you look closely at the room through the window of the house, you can see it for yourself.

[j__rd]

Mystery was my JAM theme back in the day! Thanks for the blast from the past! Some of these noises haven't been heard by these ears in 25 years!

[DavidWonn]

I used to use some portions of the themes in Plus! 95, though mostly the wallpapers and maybe screen savers on occasion. The sound effects got old fast as you can imagine.

One thing not mentioned in this video was the Plus! tab that was added in Desktop Properties. Showing window contents while moving them was rather handy to have, though it was already included by default in Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 from around the time period without the need to purchase a Plus! pack (perhaps because NT was already expensive enough?)

[Roflcopter]

I would like to mention that you should also check out the Windows NT companion kit, as it had I think three exclusive themes for NT 4.

[MarcoGPUtuber]

It's Michael MJD again. And that's a treat!

[CapTVchilenaShootingStarMax]

I remember the Microsoft Plus themes being an inspiration for me as a kid. I later made my own “themes” and made custom sounds for everything. In retrospective it was… very annoying. Nowadays I can't stand any system sounds, lol. Nice nostalgia trip!